Using A Digital Campus to Support Electronic Learning In Lebanon Presenters: Shumin Chuang Professor: Ming-Puu Chen 2008/6/26 王堯興王堯興 Schaik, P., Barker, P. & Moukadem, I. (2005). Using a digital campus to support electronic learning in Lebanon. Innovations in Education and Teaching International,42(2),

Introduction  A prototype virtual university server in Lebanon (VUSIL) has been designed and implemented  The server is to be used as a basis for the creation of a digital campus facility in Lebanon.  This paper briefly describes the VUSIL system and then reports on an evaluation study within the framework of the Technology  Levels of system acceptance of the VUSIL system were high and a range of subjects was identified that students would like to study using the system.  Perceived usefulness was a mediator of the effect of perceived ease-of- use on intention-to-use VUSIL  The factor perceived ease of use was identified as a prerequisite for achieving high levels of system use, thereby confirming previous research.

Literature review  Virtual university (or digital campus) The Internet and ‘easy-to-use’ web authoring packages have led to the widespread uptake of ‘electronic courses’ within virtually all institutions of higher education (Lockwood & Gooley, 2001; Weller, 2002; Howard et al., 2004) A virtual university (or digital campus) is ‘one which exists only within the confines of a cyberspace environment that is created using a suitably configured host computer system (Barker, 1998) ‘Virtual classrooms will take the place of the solid buildings where students currently attend lectures at set times and in set rooms’ (O’Donoghue et al,2001)

The six important factors of online courses and digital campus facilities 1.The reach factor 2.The richness factor 3.The flexibility factor 4.The acceptance factor 5.The motivational factor 6.The cost factor

The Aims of this Study  The study aims to establish levels of and factors influencing technology acceptance of the VUSIL system  To evaluate the VUSIL system in terms of three types of outcome: acceptance by its intended users, effectiveness of learning and system use.  This paper focuses on the first of these issues (acceptance by its intended users)

Technology Acceptance Model(TAM) System design features influence two interrelated cognitive appraisals of a system ( perceived ease-of-use and perceived usefulness), that are both predictors of intention-to-use a system, which in turn predicts actual use of a computer system (Davis & Venkatesh, 1996)

The VUSIL System

Research Method  Data were collected during the period February 2003 to May 2003 from VUSIL users who were invited to participate in the research by using the system for their learning  Data collection methods. A questionnaire was designed to measure technology acceptance constructs and demographics. Pre-test and post-test results on two courses available through VUSIL (Internet Basics and Advanced Internet) were recorded to assess the effectiveness of learning Access to the VUSIL web pages by students was logged in order to enable analysis of system usage  Procedure: First, an invitation to participate in the research was sent to an electronic mailing list, the members of which were predominantly of Arab (mostly Lebanese) origin. Second, the VUSIL web site was submitted to major international search engines, including Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista and Lycos. Participants were asked to study one or two of the courses in VUSIL and to complete the questionnaire afterwards.

Participants  110 participants, 57 were male and 58 were of Lebanese origin. The mean age of the participants was 28 (SD = 7).  Thirty-eight per cent were students, 10% were employed in management, 9% in accounting or finance, 6% in engineering and 6% in research and development.  Forty-eight per cent had an undergraduate degree, 21% a graduate degree,12% a technical degree and 10% a diploma or certificate.  Seventy-five per cent had used the World Wide Web for anything more than 1 month and 30% for more than one year

Appendix 1. Scale items used in the evaluation study

Results-1  Levels of acceptance were high and the level of disorientation was low  The most popular subjects were finance (44%), publishing (41%), the Internet (40%), science (40%), e-business (39%), health (39%) and safety (39%).

Results-2  Perceived usefulness is an example of a mediator: it mediates the relationship between perceived ease-of-use and intention-to-use  perceived ease-of-use has an effect on the mediator variable perceived usefulness, which in turn influences intention-to-use

Results-3  Two separate simple regression analyses showed that both perceived usefulness(R2=.83,F(1, 108) = ,p<.001) and perceived ease- of-use(R2=.75,F(1, 108) = ,p<.001)were significant predictors of intention-to-use.  A hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that the direct effect of perceived usefulness when controlling for perceived ease- of-use was significant, explaining 11% of variance (additional R2=.11,F(1, 107) = 80.27,p<.001).  A further hierarchical regression analysis established that the direct effect of Perceived ease-of-use when controlling for perceived usefulness explained 3% of variance in intention-to-use (additional R2=.03,F(1, 107) = 23.13,p <.001).

Results-4  Both courses were found to result in statistically significant learning results with large effect sizes (Moukadem, 2004).  For the Internet Basics course effectiveness was significantly correlated with system use (frequency of access and time spent visiting lectures and exercise pages)and a multiple regression analysis established that the four measures of system use explained 34% of variability in effectiveness (Moukadem, 2004).

Conclusions and Discussion-1  The results indicate that acceptance of the VUSIL system was high in terms of intention-to-use VUSIL in the future, preference for a virtual university as a mode of study and willingness to study other courses through VUSIL  Students indicated a range of subjects, such as finance, publishing, the Internet and science, that they would like to study using a virtual university system.  Students found the system useful and easy to use and did not feel disoriented when using the system.  The direct and indirect effects of perceived ease-of-use and the indirect effect of perceived usefulness were significant

Conclusions and Discussion-2  The direct effects of perceived ease-of-use and perceived usefulness were relatively small, but the indirect effect of perceived ease-of-use on intention-to-use through perceived usefulness was more than six times larger ease-of-use is essential for achieving high levels of system use.  Perceived ease-of-use and perceived usefulness were not significant predictors of two other acceptance measures: (1) preference for virtual university as mode of study and (2) willingness to study other courses through a virtual university system  Future research should study the interdependence of all factors.